1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an e-mail server and a service e-mail providing system using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A direct mail is implemented to deliver an advertisement directly to many persons using e-mail on the Internet. In this method, however, an originator of the direct mail can deliver only to previously registered mail addresses. A new direct e-mail delivery system is demanded in which the advertisement can be delivered to persons who are not registered.
In conjunction with the above description, a network system is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2001-92887). In this conventional reference, information with a high incentive is provided as the number of terminals which log in a system is increased. For this purpose, in the network system of this conventional reference, the server includes a request receiving section, a data transmitting section, an incentive providing section, a request counting section and an incentive changing section. The request receiving section receives a service request transmitted from each of a plurality of terminals via a network. The data transmitting section transmits data to the terminal from which the service request is received. The incentive providing section provides a predetermined incentive to at least a part of the terminals from which the service requests are received. The request counting section counts the number of the terminals from which the service requests are received. The incentive changing section changes the content of the incentive provided from the incentive providing section based on the count by the request counting section.
Also, an information link system is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2001-154942). In this conventional reference, an initial e-mail with link data is transmitted to a terminal with an optional e-mail address. When being accessed from the terminal, a host apparatus instructs the terminal to input an e-mail address of a destination terminal and a main sentence. The e-mail main sentence is stored in the host apparatus. Only the link data to the main sentence stored in the host apparatus is transmitted to the destination terminal by an e-mail. The destination terminal accesses the host apparatus based on the link data to view the main sentence. The host apparatus manages the e-mail addresses, and may stop the transfer of the e-mail when the e-mail has been transferred a predetermined number of times.
Also, an advertisement system is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2001-209683). In this conventional reference, advertisement data is provided to a user terminal via a network. The advertisement data is managed. When the user terminal transmits the advertisement data to another user terminal, an identifier of the user terminal is added to the advertisement data. A point is given to a user of the user terminal.
Also, a guide system is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2001-290994). In this conventional reference, the existence of a home page with an incentive is notified to many terminals by a chain mail.